


Soldier Boy, Come Home

by Arlyshawk



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Fluffy Ending, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 14:31:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9239108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arlyshawk/pseuds/Arlyshawk
Summary: The lover of soldiers often sit, waiting, for someone who might not come home from a battle. Sometimes, they come home, beaten and broken. Sometimes.. Sometimes they come home in coffins.Hylia Varalin, technician for Black Squadron and girlfriend to Poe Dameron, sits and waits for him after he left for Jakku with her dog. And she worries.





	

Hylia Varalin sits on the wing of a grounded x-wing, absentmindedly running her fingers through her hair. Beneath her is her faithful too fluffy and almost too large dog, who she's been calling Ranger. Ranger turns his dark brown eyes up at her and lifts his angular head to let out what seems to be a melodramatic whine. He wants Poe home as much as she does. She feels concern in her chest, too tight and almost aching, ever since he left. She _should_ be used to it by now, but ever since they started being together as something more than friends she's felt this same feeling every time. 

Except that tonight, the fifth night in a row, he doesn't come home. When darkness falls and the ghostly light of the runway lights spark to life, she decides to head to bed. Ranger disappears on the way there, possibly trying to go find the soup bones that the cooks leave for him as well as any other goodies that "accidently" get left in his bowl from this morning's mystery breakfast. The smell of biscuits and ham and bean soup hits her nose as she worms her way through the buildings and instantly, what little appetite she might've had is gone. Her diet these past week has been summed up as dry, saltine crackers and a jar of nuts that her crew had given her when she'd looked especially tired one day. It’s the worry, she knows it, but she can't help the sickening tight nausea that comes when the pilots are gone. 

Hylia finds her room, one that'd only been recently given to her since she made the rank of Major. It still smells of dust and linen despite the fact that Ranger's very fur covered mattress is one corner and she's certain that her lieutenant didn't give him a bath after he got into mud and.. whatever else vaguely resembles mud. Sitting on the messy bed that is a nest of thick vivid comforters and bright white sheets, she slips off her boots and listens to the clicking of Ranger's nails on the catwalks outside her room. At once, the door opens to reveal Ranger with a thick cow knuckle at his paws, two bracing the side of the door. 

She forgot that he knew how to open doors without a security lock that's engaged. How could she forget that the dog is trained for military excursions? Ranger slips in, but not before picking up his prize for today and setting it on his bed. Then, when he flops down with a big huff, he glances up at her. 

"Not today, bud. I'm sorry," Hylia manages to choke out. Her heart is in her throat and it feels like lead shot. Ranger's floppy ears drop and he whines that almost sounds like, _I just want him home._ Maybe she's crazy because her only company has been a dog and occasionally her lieutenant. Ignoring the thought to get out of her oriole orange jumpsuit, she climbs down to Ranger's level and hugs him, "I know you miss Poe.. I do too, big guy." 

Ranger rests his heavy head on her shoulder.. Well, partially resting and also sniffing her for food. A smile breaks her face as she feels his cold, wet nose against her neck. Getting up, she goes back to her bed and unzips her jumpsuit and gets out of it, tired of being too hot after being on a x-wing wing in the mild heat. Hylia undoes her bun and pushes her hands through her thick hair, wincing a bit at the knots that have formed. _I wish he was here,_ she thinks and remembers the way that Poe plays with her hair and comments about how his mother and aunt would sit and braid each other's hair in front of him and make haphazard braids in her hair in an attempt to mimic it. 

The thought of braiding her hair passes through her mind, but she ignores it and puts her hair in a bun again. Wearing only a plain white tank top and her underwear, she hops up and finds the soft, grey sweat pants that she's been wearing. They were a hand-me-down from Jessika when she noticed that Hylia didn't have any good "comfy" pants. She reminds herself of her mother, who gave her nightshirts to wear when she was a teenager, the ones that begun to slightly unravel at the collar and were ungodly soft. Flopping back onto her bed, she shuts her eyes and listens to the distinct sound of Ranger's teeth on the bone he was given until sleep takes her under its deep, dark waves. 

Her dreams flood with images of Naboo, her homeland, with starships bursting forth from the great hangars that her father worked in. She's skipping along A-Wings and X-Wing, and a few spare N-! starfighters. She liked those, her father loved them too. Two women stand beside a young Princess Organa, both almost looking identical. One has a thick, dark curly hair like Hylia herself and dressed in a dark flight jumpsuit with Alliance patches sewn into the shoulders. That one carries herself with an amount of courage, as her mother would say. The other had silken inky hair and wore a bright orange flight suit with kind eyes and a helmet tucked underneath her arm. 

Her dream shatters when Ranger's bark scares her awake. Her fingers push long strands of hair that have fallen and tuck them behind her ears as her vision adjusts to the dark. In the black, she spies a familiar form that struggles to block a very excited Ranger. And if one knows Ranger, they'd know that he doesn't get excited too often. 

"Poe?" Hylia's voice feels small in her throat, hoarse and thick. The figure stills despite Ranger's nails clicking and thumping against the steel floor. It couldn't be him, her mind tells her, he left and never came back because he's dead. Then again, this is Poe Dameron that she's thinking about. 

"Ranger, buddy, I think I just got a bath from you. Please stop," Poe's voice pierces the dark and she flips a light on to see him with Ranger on his hind legs, slathering Poe's face with kisses. Her heart flutters in her chest and she crawls to the end of the bed and claps at Ranger to go lay down. The massive dog's ears go down, goes to his bed, and lays down in a melodramatic groan. Using his sleeve, he wipes the dog spit from his face and then turns his russet gaze to her. He smiles then, the kind that are soft and kind, but somehow tinges of that brave, daredevil that he can be. Hot tears well in her eyes and she chokes out a laugh. He kneels, taking her hands in his, "How's my girl?" 

"I thought you died," Hylia whispers as her throat constricts from the flood of emotion that takes her entire body under. Her voice is thick, like syrup, "Please don't do that to me again. I don't think any of us could take that." 

"I can't make any promises, Lia," He chews on his lip, ducks his head, and then squeezes her hands. In his dark brown eyes, she can find the worry there. It's always scared him since they met that they'd lose each other - lose the team since Black Squadron was made - but he always swallows the bitter pill because of their line of work. Sometimes, pilots don't come back. Technicians can't run from an ambush. Poe sighs quietly, "All I can say is that you're girl, and I always try to return home to you." 

Hylia leans forward, pressing a kiss to his forehead, and squeezes his hands back. 

"I know what we signed up for, and I love you despite everything that goes on." She says to him, glancing down at the floor and then over at the moonlight that filters through the small window. He nods and stands with a softer, more somber smile on his face. There's sand in his hair and he has a puckering, inflamed cut on his face and another across his left elbow. One thing is missing from him. She slants her brown eyes at him, "Where's your jacket?" 

Poe pulls off his shirt and grabs another from behind Ranger's bed. He gives her a look that reeks of bewilderment and clears his throat. 

"I.. uh.. lost it when I crashed a TIE fighter on Jakku. I woke up from the crash and it was gone," He explains as he continues to change clothes. She spies the scar that courses down his right leg from when he accidently took a tumble off of the wing of his X-Wing and cut himself on a jagged piece of metal that had broken free from the rivets during a dogfight. It's silver-white now, mostly due to him getting tired of hitting it on something and irritating the scar tissue. "I'm sorry, Lia.. I know you loved that jacket." 

She crinkles her nose, " _You_ loved that jacket. I just sewed the patches on for you, silly." 

Poe's chuckle is soft and warm, "Hey now, I seem to remember you stealing it several times." 

"I was cold." 

He gets smug at once, "Still counts."

Hylia smiles, "Poe.. What am I going to do with you?" 

The bed shifts when he sits on its edge and gestures with his head at it. Crawling over, she flops in the corner closest to the wall and he lays down beside her, letting hers wiggle against his side. His arm becomes her pillow while his fingers run across her side. His hands are callused differently from her own, cleaner too. There's a permanent stain of oil and grease in her hands and under her nails, but her hands are callused on the palms and freckled with burn scars from welding. His differ, they callused everywhere, primarily on the fingers and the top most section of his palm. 

"Sorry I worried you, Hylia," Poe whispers and kisses the top of her head. 

"You're a Resistance Pilot, Poe. I don't hold it against you in any way," She nuzzles his neck, feeling his pulse against the bridge of her nose, beating steady and strong. 

His arm encloses around her, pulling her closer to him. He's warm like smoldering embers, hand resting on the ball of her hip. Throwing a leg in between his, she lays half of herself practically on him, listening to the sound of his heart thundering against his ribcage. 

"Guess that makes you my girlfriend _and_ my co-pilot." 

Hylia chuckles, "Yeah, I guess it does." 


End file.
